Eastern Illinois vs. Illinois State Saturday - September 15 - 6 p.m. - O’Brien Stadium Contact: Rich Moser • [email protected] • (217) 581-7480 • Fax (217) 581-6434 • www.EIUpanthers.com GAME 3 Ranked Teams Collide At O’Brien Eastern Illinois Hosts Illinois State No. 14 Eastern Illinois (1-1, 1-0 OVC) vs. No. 17 Illinois State (1-1, 0-0 GFC) O’Brien Stadium (10,000) • Charleston, Illinois September 15, 2007 • 6 p.m. • TV: WEIU Channel 51 QUICK FACTS THE GAME Two ranked teams from the Prairie State collide for the third time in less than a year COACHES: as Eastern Illinois hosts Illinois State for its annual Hall-of-Fame Game on Saturday Bob Spoo (Purdue, 1960) night. Both teams will enter the game ranked in the Top 20 in all four polls but with EIU Record ............120-99-1 (20th year) different results last Saturday. This game could have post-season implications as both vs. Illinois State ..............................8-8-1 teams would bolster their strength of schedule to the tournament committee with a big non-conference win. Last season both Eastern Illinois and Illinois State were selected to Denver Johnson (Tulsa, 1981) the NCAA FCS Playoff fi eld as at-large candidates. Illinois State Record ......42-40 (8th year) EIU lost 52-6 at Purdue in the homecoming for head coach Bob Spoo as the Panthers Overall Record ............63-52 (11th year) vs. EIU ...............................................9-1 fell to 1-1 on the year. Eastern Illinois was held to less than 100 yards rushing as Travorus Bess led the way with 67 on 11 carries. EIU had won its season opener against Tennessee Tech at O’Brien Stadium on Thursday, August 30 by a score of 45-24. SERIES ISU trounced Murray State 43-17 on Saturday night to improve to 1-1 on the year. 96th meeting (ILST leads 49-37-9) The Redbirds had lost their season opener to Drake 27-24. LAST YEAR ILST 24, EIU 13 in FCS Playoff 1st Rd. EASTERN ILLINOIS-ILLINOIS STATE SERIES ILST 44, EIU 30 in regular season The most played rivalry among the four FCS schools located in Illinois resumes as Eastern Illinois and Illinois State will meet for the 96th time this weekend. ISU has owned the series in recent years winning eight of the last nine meetings including both RANKINGS Eastern Illinois ....................14/17/13/17 match-ups in 2006. The Redbirds own the all-time series lead 49-37-9. EIU head coach Illinois State ........................17/15/19/18 Bob Spoo is 8-8-1 all-time against ISU dating back to the days when both schools played .............................Sports Network/FCS Coaches/ as members of the Gateway Football Conference. .........SME Broadcasting/AnyGivenSaturday.com Eastern Illinois (1-1, 1-0 OVC) Illinois State (1-1, 0-0 Gateway) TELEVISION Date Opponent Score/Time Date Opponent Score/Time WEIU-TV Channel 51 Aug. 30 * TENNESSEE TECH W 45-24 Aug. 30 DRAKE L 27-24 Play-by-Play ........................Mike Bradd Sept. 8 at Purdue L 52-6 Sept. 8 MURRAY STATE W 43-17 Analyst .............................Jack Ashmore Sept. 15 ILLINOIS STATE 6 p.m. Sept. 15 at Eastern Illinois 6 p.m. Sept. 22 at Indiana State 5 p.m. Sept. 22 at Missouri 1 p.m. RADIO Sept. 29 * at Southeast Missouri 6 p.m. Sept. 29 * NORTHERN IOWA 1:30 p.m. Oct. 6 * EASTERN KENTUCKY 1:30 p.m. Oct. 6 * at Missouri State 2 p.m. Hit Mix 88.9 FM Oct. 13 * at Murray State 3 p.m. Oct. 13 * INDIANA STATE 1:30 p.m. www.weiuhitmix.net Oct. 20 * TENNESSEE MARTIN 1:30 p.m. Oct. 20 * at Youngstown State 3 p.m. Play-by-Play ........................Mike Bradd Analyst .............................Jack Ashmore Oct. 27 * at Tennessee State 6 p.m. Oct. 27 * WESTERN ILLINOIS 1:30 p.m. Nov. 3 Open Date Nov. 3 at North Dakota State 6 p.m. Nov. 10 * at Jacksonville State Noon Nov. 10 * at Southern Illinois 1:30 p.m. INTERNET Nov. 17 * SAMFORD 1:30 p.m. Nov. 17 Open Date Live Stats .............www.eiupanthers.com Nov. 24 FCS Playoffs TBA * Gateway Conference Game Live Video ............www.OVCSports.TV * Ohio Valley Conference Game Times Central All Times Central Bleed Blue - Time To Shine • 11 NCAA FCS Playoff Appearances • OVC Champs 2006, 2005, 2002, 2001 September 15, 2007 • Eastern Illinois vs. Illinois State • Page 2 • www.EIUpanthers.com EASTERN ILLINOIS HEAD COACH BOB SPOO 2007 SPORTS NETWORK Eastern Illinois head coach Bob Spoo returns to the sidelines this season after missing TOP 25 all of last season due to a preseason surgery that was supposed to only sideline the long time (Week 3) face of the Panther program for 4-to-6 weeks. Spoo returned this year for his second run at his 20th season as the EIU head coach winning the season opener 45-24 over Tennessee Rk. Team 2007 Record Tech. His career record is 120-99-1 at EIU including a 54-19 mark in OVC action. He 1. Appalachian State (77) 2-0 2. Montana 2-0 ranks third all-time in OVC wins trailing Eastern Kentucky’s Roy Kidd (207) and Tennessee 3. Massachusetts 2-0 Tech’s Don Wade (60). Spoo is a 1960 graduate of Purdue University. 4. Northern Iowa 2-0 5. North Dakota State 1-0 ILLINOIS STATE HEAD COACH DENVER JOHNSON 6. Youngstown State 1-1 7. Southern Illinois 2-0 Denver Johnson enters his eighth season as the Illinois State head coach coming off his 8. McNeese State 1-0 most successful season at ISU. Last year Johnson led ISU to a the NCAA FCS Quarterfi nals 9. James Madison 1-1 fi nishing with a 9-4 overall record. He was also the head coach at Murray State for three 10. Delaware 2-0 11. Wofford 2-0 seasons before moving to Illinois State. Johnson’s ISU record is 42-40 while his career mark 12. New Hampshire 0-1 is 63-52. He is a 1981 graduate of the Tulsa University. 13. Hampton 1-0 14. EASTERN ILLINOIS 1-1 SCOUTING ILLINOIS STATE 15. Furman 1-1 16. Sam Houston State 2-0 The Redbirds enter the weekend with a potent rushing attack as they 15th in the FCS 17. Illinois State 1-1 ranks with 255.5 yards per game. Rafael Rice is the leading rusher with 109 yards per 18. Nicholls State 2-0 contest. The Illinois State defense was hit by graduation last year, but the Redbirds do 19. Hofstra 1-0 return top linebacker Kye Stewart who is a Buck Buchanan Award candidate this season. 20. Montana State 0-1 21. Yale 0-0 ISU enters the game with a 1-1 record following a 43-17 win over Murray State. ISU is 22. Western Illinois 1-1 averaging 33.5 points per game while surrendering 22 per contest. 23. Towson 2-0 24. Delaware State 2-0 NUMBER TO REMEMBER 25. Lafayette 2-0 This week’s number to remember is 44 - that is the number of consecutive games Eastern Illinois has put points on the scoreboard. The streak is the third longest in the Ohio Valley 2007 FCS Coaches Poll Conference trailing Jacksonville State (77) and Samford (68). While the 44-game streak (Week 3) dates back to the 2003 season it pails in comparison to the Panthers longest scoring streak. From 1977 through 1996, EIU scored points in 197 straight games, the fourth longest streak Rk. Team 2007 Record 1. Appalachian State (28) 2-0 ever for FCS level schools. The all-time leaders Hampton (258) and Montana (241) still 2. Massachusetts 2-0 have active streaks to this day. Last weekend, Western Illinois saw its 151 game scoring 3. Montana 2-0 streak come to an end with a 21-0 loss at Illinois. 4. North Dakota State 1-0 5. Northern Iowa 2-0 6. Southern Illinois 2-0 NUMBER TO REMEMBER - PART 2 T7. James Madison 1-1 This week’s second number to remember is six - that is the number of consecutive games T7. Youngstown State 1-1 Eastern Illinois has been limited without a running back rushing for more than 100 yards in 9. McNeese State 1-0 10. Wofford 2-0 a game. Also during that time span, EIU has been limited to less than 100 yards rushing as 11. Delaware 2-0 a team in three of their last four games. The last EIU running back to fi nish with more than 12. New Hampshire 0-1 100 yards in a game was Vincent Webb with a 106 yard effort at Tennessee Martin. This 13. Hampton 1-0 season junior Travorus Bess has handled most of the work load with 134 yards in two games. 14. Sam Houston State 2-0 15. Illinois State 1-1 Even though Bess is only averaging 67 yards per game, he has done it on a limited number 16. Furman 1-1 of carries as he averages 6.1 yards per touch. 17. EASTERN ILLINOIS 1-1 18. Nicholls State 2-0 MATCH-UPS TO WATCH THIS WEEK 19. Montana State 0-1 20. Hofstra 1-0 EASTERN ILLINOIS ABILITY TO STOP THE RUN T21. Cal Poly 0-2 A key to this week’s game will be Eastern Illinois’ ability to stop the Illinois State run T21. Western Illinois 1-1 game. The Redbirds rank 15th in the country at 255.50 yards per game with Rafael 23. Yale 0-0 24.